Seasonal activity of ticks infesting domestic dogs in Bejaia province, Northern Algeria

Abstract

This epidemiological study aimed to determine the species of tick infestation in dogs, their prevalence and dynamic in the Bejaia province, northeastern Algeria. A total of 631 dogs were examined from different localities of the Bejaia province between March 2016 and February 2017. Of the 631 examined dogs, 15% were infested with one or more tick species. A total of 339 adult ticks were collected and identified, including 199 male tick species and 140 female tick species. Our results revealed that most of these were Rhipicephalus species, with Rhipicephalus sanguineus (51.32%) being the most prevalent followed by Rhipicephalus bursa (35.1%) and Rhipicephalus turanicus (12.98%). Ixodes ricinus represented only 0.6% of all ticks collected. The highest infested seasons were spring (22.55%) and summer (22.54%) and the lowest infested seasons were autumn (8.62%) and winter ( 0.9%). There is no significant difference between the sex of the animal and the prevalence of infestation (p = 0.837). Also, the prevalence of infestation by ticks in young animals was higher than that in adult animals (p = 0.550). A significant difference between the prevalence of infestation and animal breed was observed (p = 0.042). This study is the first epidemiological investigation conducted on the prevalence of hard ticks infesting domestic dogs in Bejaia (northeastern Algeria) based on conventional methods. It is therefore necessary to implement an effective tick control strategy during infestation periods in order to prevent vector-borne diseases.

Molecular characterisation of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks from domestic dogs in Nigeria

“…In line with our findings, the brown dog tick, R. sanguineus, has been reported to be the most prevalent tick species of dogs in Nigeria (Adetayo et al, 2021;Akande et al, 2018;Kamani et al, 2018;Shitta et al, 2018) and other parts of the world including Algeria (Kebbi et al, 2019) Egypt (Abdullah et al, 2016), Great Britain (Smith et al, 2011), Italy (Maurelli et al, 2018), Indonesia (Hadi et al, 2016) and China (Zhang et al, 2017). The 61.8% prevalence of R. sanguineus we observed in this study is within the prevalence documented by previous researchers on the abundance of R. sanguineus within and outside of Nigeria (Abdullah et al, 2016;Akande et al, 2018;Maurelli et al, 2018;Shitta et al, 2018).…”

Prevalence and Distribution of Hard Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Domestic Animals from Solapur District, Maharashtra, India

“…Fatemian et al (2018) reported 12 species of Ixodidae ticks from livestock fauna (sheep, goat, and cattle) in Boyer-Ahmad and Dena cities of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Southwest of Iran. Kebbi et al (2019) noted the infestation by 4 species of ticks in domestic dogs in Bejaia province, Northern Algeria. Also, the prevalence of infestation by ticks in young animals (≤ 1 year of age) was higher than that in adult animals (> 1 year of age).…”

Synopsis of the ticks of Algeria with new hosts and localities records

“…This species is a three-host tick. In Algeria, it is present in the northern part of the country where it infests cattle, goats, dogs, wild boars and hedgehogs [ 8 , 37 , 42 , 49 , 50 ] Interestingly, we collected it from cats, which is a new host association for Algeria (Fig. 9 ).…”